[B-Greek] 1 Corinthians 7:27 *LELUSAI* APO GUNAIKOS?
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Jul 18 11:32:51 EDT 2008
On Jul 18, 2008, at 10:28 AM, Jonathan Robie wrote:
> Carl Conrad wrote:
>>
>> On Jul 18, 2008, at 7:55 AM, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>>
>>> I'm trying to understand the meaning of λέλυσαι ἀπὸ
>>> γυναικός; (LELUSAI
>>> APO GUNAIKOS) in 1 Corinthians 7:27. Does the phrase
>>> λέλυσαι ἀπὸ
>>> γυναικός (LELUSAI APO GUNAIKOS) mean "released from a
>>> woman", as in
>>> divorced, or just "free of a woman"? Translations go both ways. In
>>> other
>>> words, is a previous state of marriage presumed?
>>
>> Compare the usage of LUW and DEW with regard to ecclesiasatical
>> decisions regarding membership in (Mt 5:19f, 16:18-19, 18:18. The
>> simplest way of putting these distinctions, I think, is "dissolve
>> an association" and "make an association binding." What is
>> presumed, I think, is not a "state of marriage" in terms of some
>> sanction by state or religion as, more simply, a deliberate
>> association. LELUSAI APO GUNAIKOS; MH ZHTEI GUNAIKA -- "you've got
>> quit from a woman? Don't go looking for a woman." And remember, of
>> course, that Greek makes no distinction between GUNH as "woman" and
>> "wife." A woman in a "deliberate association" is a wife.
>
> That makes sense. But you seem to disagree with the BDAG note, or at
> least it does not seem to affect your interpretation. Is that fair?
For what it's worth, I do NOT agree with Danker here on this point. He
cites Chion, Ep. 7 and the usage of LELUMENWS as an adverb meaning "in
a relaxed manner of speaking" -- i.e., "not strictly"; but I fail to
see how that justifies understanding an indicative verb usage of the
perfect LELUSAI APO GUNAIKOS (where the expression seems to be an
abbreviated rhetorical EAN LELUMENOS HiS) with APO + genitive. If it
meant simply, "You're a single man," wouldn't it have been simpler to
write, GUNAIKA OUK ECEIS? or even AGAMOS EI? (he DOES use the
adjective AGAMOS elsewhere in 1 Cor 7). I would sooner understand
LELUMENOS EI? with LELUMENOS as a predicate adjective meaning
"unentangled" or "uninvolved" -- like German "ledig" for "single."
What complicates matters is that APO + genitive is commonly enough a
Koine equivalent of a partitive or ablatival genitive -- so I guess
it's conceivable that LELUSAI APO GUNAIKOS means, "You're uncommitted
to a woman?" Yet I still doubt it.
> I hadn't thought of the possibility that LUW was used precisely to
> be more general than marriage and divorce.
>
> Jonathan
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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